Pale Eyes and Sharp Knives
by Vehlika Clearskyes
Summary: NejiTen NejixTenten related prompts. Selected from the "64 Prompts" list on livejournal. Suggested themes. Spoilers for chapter 614 and onwards. Character death.


A/N: So, apparently, our internet is staying on. First Naruto fanfic. Spoilers for chapter 614. Mentioned character death. From the 64 Damn Prompts on livejournal.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

**# 6- Seize the Day**

When Neji becomes a Jonin, Tenten is furious. How dare he leave her to cough in his dust?! True, she doesn't have much more than basic skill in ninjutsu but she's the best practioneer of fūinjutsu in the whole village! She's the fastest Kuniochi, the most mature, the most athletic of the Konoha Eleven. She's _so frustrated _that she's only recently made Chuunin herself after all the long nights training until collapse with her arsenal of weaponry_, _with Lee and Gai-sensei. Her jealous fury is only temporary, though.

Jonin means higher level missions; missions worthy of Neji's genius. He'll leave the village alone or with other Jonin, while she and Lee will wait for his return, but _won't _because Shinobi die all the time and waiting for someone to come home when they might not is foolish. The village needs capable ninja, not emotionally handicapped tools.

Tenten isn't sure what prompts the audacity of such thoughts. Neji? Not coming back? Blasphemy. He's the Hyuuga Genius. He's learned the Main Family's techniques by sight alone, he's the strongest clan member after his uncle, he's…he's…. Neji might as well be invincible. But that's an absurd thought too. No one can't be killed; out raced, out witted, and out willed. Naruto is proof of that.

So the day Neji is to leave for his first mission, Tenten sets her eyes and aims for the target. She strikes swift as lightning, without hesitation, her hands are firm and steady, her gaze unwavering.

Neji's beautiful pale lavender eyes grow wide and he becomes as rigid as a tombstone when their lips connect.

Her brown eyes are closed softly- she's made peace with this- and her hands are tangled in his shirt, pulling him down to her; she stands on tip toes and gives him all she's got to give. Suddenly, being a Shinobi is frightening, knowing that Neji is closer to death just by standing at the village gates than she is, and if he dies she doesn't want there to be regret or doubt about how things could have been.

Regardless of Neji's own thoughts, she is _his_ Tenten and its only right he comes to that conclusion before he goes and does something stupid like all boys do.

Predictably, he does both of those things.

**# 12- Children**

Everyone is astonished when they learn about Tenten's pregnancy. Gai-sensei and Lee too, which earns them each a good smack to the face. Although, with all the training they do, it really isn't surprising. Oblivious idiots.

Sakura, Ino, and most of the female population can't understand why he chose _her_ of all candidates. Tenten found herself amused. Everyone knows about Sakura and Ino's once romantic love for Sasuke, and Hinata's love for Naruto, but no one had any clue about her own affair.

The plainest Kuniochi of her generation got farther than the pretty ones. Ha.

It had started when they could no longer take the tension between them. What could she say? No matter how composed a young man, a Jonin, Hyuuga Neji was still a teenage boy and she was the only teenage girl he liked being around who wasn't related to him.

They had just completed an escort mission and were staying at an Inn before beginning the journey home.

She and Neji were assigned the same room and things got out of control. They were virgins and it was clumsy and awkward, but it was worth it. They swore they'd keep it casual- they were too good of friends to risk ruining it with a relationship and as Shinobi, it simply wasn't a good idea. At least not at the time; maybe in ten, fifteen years?

Now that would never happen.

Tenten had fallen pregnant when a condom broke. They hadn't noticed until it was too late and there was no going back. After the initial shock, Neji had worried about the possibility of the child having the Byakugan and being marked, but Tenten managed to get his mind off those things. They could deal with it when they crossed that bridge. In the mean time, they kept it a secret. Hinata might've known, but if she did she told no one.

She finally told everyone when her stomach became visible under her clothes. It was shocking news for most, but Shikamaru was the fastest at putting two and two together, and Naruto was whooping for joy sooner rather than later. Hinata smiled happily, still holding Naruto's hand, as fresh tears streamed down her face. The two of them had held Neji as he died and she was sure that they would make a great Aunt and Uncle.

She gave birth to twins in the rebuilt hospital. They made two gorgeous little girls who had her dark brown hair, and his pale lavender eyes. One was quiet and very well-mannered already- Tenten named her Nejimē. Her sister was loud and temperamental in contrast- Tenten named her Akira, meaning "brightness".

She stared down Hyuuga Hiashi when he came to see them. She would not have them marked. Ever. She was backed by the rest of the Konoha Eleven.

She raised them in the new village, retired from her life as a Shinobi with stories of their father always on her lips and a glow in her eyes. She never deliberately said he was dead.

Neji had left her a little bit of himself with her; he wasn't entirely gone. Not really.

**# 17- Missing Time**

Neither of them had time for a relationship, preferring to train and go on missions than pursue romantic interests. After so many days training together and nights sharing tents, it was only natural that they be drawn to one another. He was stoic and she was passion. He was articulation and she was grace. She called him dense and he called her stubborn. He called her beautiful and she was speechless.

She had never thought herself very attractive. She was physically strong for a woman- second only to Sakura-, she had more callused skin than he did, she ate to her heart's content, she could be brash and couth and unsightly. But Neji thought she was beautiful.

He said she smelled like peaches. Her hair was the loveliest chestnut he'd ever seen and he could spend all day looking into her matching eyes. He thought her figure was perfect; she was the right combination of muscle tone and soft curves, she had the most cheerful smile he'd ever known, and whenever she wasn't around he was lonely.

Who knew he could be so poetic?

They made love like there wouldn't be a tomorrow. Chests rising and falling as they panted for breath, hips rocking, hands clawing, long hair down and moaning aloud without a care. It was forbidden for Branch members to have relations before marriage lest bastard children be produced with the Byakugan, but in those moments together, neither cared. Tenten never visited the Hyuuga compound and Neji never initiated more than platonic contact outside places with four walls, roof and floor with sensory blocking jutsu.

They never kissed or held hands in public. There were no fleeting glances or passing blushes. What they had was taboo and treasured too much to risk. They could go for weeks, months, without touching but eventually someone's patience would snap and they'd find a place; miles outside the village walls in a shack in the middle of nowhere, a small corner of training grounds they'd prepared years ago, or even Naruto's apartment because Hinata wasn't so shy anymore and that meant more things than Neji cared to look into.

All too quickly, Neji was dead. Tenten was on that same battlefield, albeit far away, but everyone was in on it as his chakra signature vanished for good. As Shinobi, they'd been ready to lose each other at any moment- it was expected. But she had never thought the one to leave first would be him. She wished they'd spent more time in each other's arms, coming together, hard and soft flesh, and searing kisses and showering together. She needed more of him. Five years of Hyuuga Neji wasn't enough for her. The gods couldn't be this cruel, she had always known life was short, especially for Shinobi but…

Tenten wondered where the time had gone.

**# 26- Color**

A person's eyes become clouded and pale upon death. It's how you really know someone is, in fact, deceased.

That rule doesn't apply to the Hyuuga clan. Their eyes are so pale already in life, looking into the eyes of one of their corpses might fool you.

Oh, one might say that the lack of emotion, recognition, would be a giveaway. For most; yes. That rule doesn't apply to Neji.

His body is cold, growing stiffer by the second as rigor mortis sets in. He has blood trails on his face; crimson lines that practically jump off his paler-than-life skin. His hair is loose and free of the leather tie and his headband. She notices the latter the most.

His forehead is smooth and clear. No green insignia marking him as a member of the Branch family. His Byakugan is locked away forever, but the caged bird is free in death. He's just Neji now. He has a small smile on his face, his eyes half open as if he knew she would want to see for herself if the exception to the rule was true.

She's seen his eyes without remorse, lovingly warm, sparked with excitement, lost in lust, calculating strategy; she's seen more than anyone else in the entirety of his life.

As she weeps, she closes his eyes, leaning down to kiss his forehead in goodbye. She knows it's wrong to wish it was still there, but she does away- after all, when it was there he was alive.

The color green meant he was a prisoner, and he was alive. In that moment, as Tenten is standing beside Lee and Gai-sensei, about to leave Neji's side to make room for the clan, she guiltily wishes to see the green swastika-like curse mark on his forehead. She hates herself for it, but Tenten would rather have Neji be a prisoner than be free.

Selfishness was always green.

A/N: That's it for now, I suppose. Please review!


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